Someone asked a Zen master, "How do you practice Zen"
The master said, " When you are hungry, eat; when you are tired, sleep."
Isn't that what everyone does anyway?"
The master replied, "No No. Most people entertain a thousand desires when they eat and scheme over a thousand plans when they sleep."
Live for the moment.
if the mind is distracted, it's worth asking why.
Buddha's explanation of "Dependent Origination" aims to demonstrate that all thoughts come from somewhere, no matter how deep and hidden the roots may be in time.
Given enough observation ("mindfulness") and investigation ("asking questions regards catalyst") you can eventually find the 'cause' of almost all distracting behaviour that takes us out of the moment.
Enlightenment is not about having 'no thoughts', and 'no mind'; or trying to force such a state of being completely present, without distraction.
It's more about balancing and harmonising all the thoughts that have previously been thought and set into motion, so that the lake may be still once more, without having the karmic return of rocks and pebbles being thrown into that lake on an almost constant basis.
If a being can contemplate a thousand desires in a state of peace and happiness, why not? I don't know why I should pursue this ideal of the present moment and purported non-distraction. A distraction to me is something that deviates one from happiness. I can understand how somebody can be very anxious about 1000 desires but if they are otherwise happy, what are they distracted from?
Enjoying the present moment to me is just that: Enjoying the present, being happy. Who cares if your present happens to be vast and willful as long as your happy?
I wish I had more happiness and peace that wasn't so subtle. I have to reach for it.
If it pains me to just focus on one thing at a time, am I not distracting myself from my happiness?
Thank goodness I am a women and can multitask. With the way our brain is structures we're good at that lol jk